Bone and joint surgical procedures are well known in the art. To improve on conventional surgical techniques, imaging technologies and computers are increasingly being adopted and implemented by surgeons. The primary drive in developing such technology is to reduce the overall invasiveness of the procedure, while maintaining or increasing the overall accuracy.
Computer assisted surgery (CAS) is now quite common for a range of surgical procedures. Surgeons are able to use computer tracking technology to visually map a patient's anatomy both before and during the surgical procedure. CAS also provides increased precision in targeting a particular site for correction. These techniques are also very useful for determining the optimal size and location of prosthetic implants.
Publications in the area of CAS have shown increased accuracy and/or precision during the intraoperative procedure; however, these systems add not only higher costs to the surgery, but also increased surgical time. The necessary technical equipment related to conventional computer-assisted systems makes additional surgeon and operating room (OR) team training necessary. Additionally, not all hospitals have access to CAS techniques. Furthermore, the accuracy benefits of CAS are not necessarily reflected in the patient outcomes, as there is significant variability amongst surgeons in their ability to perform precise surgical operations.
Also known in the art is the use of templates for surgical procedures. Templates may be prepared using medical imaging techniques and they can enhance the accuracy of the procedure in the operating room. However, a drawback of such templates is that the alignment provided cannot be verified or adjusted intraoperatively.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages, it would be beneficial to implement a procedure that combines the accuracy benefits of CAS with the precision, repeatability, low cost and ease of use benefits associated with surgical alignment tools.